


Some Catching Up to Do

by magicasen



Category: Marvel (Comics), X-Men: First Class (Comics)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-05
Updated: 2014-04-05
Packaged: 2018-01-17 12:44:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1388119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicasen/pseuds/magicasen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everything in Wanda's life moves a bit too quickly for her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Catching Up to Do

**Author's Note:**

  * For [likeadeuce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/likeadeuce/gifts).



> Thank you to arthurisarthur for the beta!

Jean screamed, slamming down on the brakes. A tinny sound rang in her ears and her mind reached out almost reflexively to slow the wheels.

The seat belt still yanked her body back. She turned to glare at the visitor in the passenger seat who had popped up out of thin air approximately two seconds prior. “You could warn a girl!”

Pietro looked distinctly unimpressed. “When you dangle a signboard above a moving vehicle that reads,” he made a show of peering closely at the poster held in his hands, “'QSLVR NEED 2 TALK 2 U', you are in no position to admonish me.”

Jean rested her head against the headrest before slinking into the seat. “True,” she sighed, feeling her snappiness fade away into the upholstery. “Sorry about that. You caught me off guard.”

“It's my job.” Pietro raised an eyebrow at the steering wheel. “I see X-Men are unable to drive and talk at the same time.”

Jean resisted rolling her eyes as she leaned over to shut the ignition off. “Any self-respecting driver, homo superior or whatever, can. But this isn't telling Iceman to shut up.”

“You're keeping my sister waiting.” He made it sound like the most heinous offense in the world.

“Oh, yeah!” In retrospect, she could have acted a bit more gracious from the beginning. Maybe. “That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about!”

Pietro raised an eyebrow at her before crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back; the poster had disappeared sometime between now and Jean's last sentence. After a protracted moment of staring blankly at him – he had started to jiggle his leg – Jean let out a soft _oh._ Pietro-speak for _go ahead_.

“You know,” she scratched her head, “since me and Wanda have been doing this for a while now, I thought I should make my intentions clear.”

In an instant, Pietro had sat up straight, and his fingers were spread over the dashboard, eyes staring out of the windshield. “My suspicions were correct!”

Uh. Jean blinked. Did the speedster always make everyone feel in a perpetual state of catching-up? “Was it that obvious?”

“You're trying to coerce my sister into joining your band of mutant schoolchildren!” Pietro declared, facing her now. “It won't work! I would let you know we have already been accounted for.”

What? “What?” Jean said aloud, and then thought it over. “I mean, no!” Jean made an X with her arms. “If you and your sister don't want to join, you don't want to join! Not what I was talking about, anyway.”

Pietro ran a hand through his hair. “Of course. We are still the children of Magneto. No one in their proper mind would accept us.” His eyes darted carefully to the left, hooded, and Jean scrunched up her shoulders.

“I didn't mean it like that at all,” she said, reaching out and telegraphing (ha- _ha_ ) what exactly she intended to do. Pietro allowed her to rest a hand on his shoulder. “You and Wanda are good people, no matter who you've been involved with. Besides, you struck it out on your own after you realized what was happening, even knowing how dangerous and difficult it'd be. Sound like heroes to me.”

Pietro stiffened for a blink of a moment before scoffing and turning away, but Jean saw the small smile he tried to hide. “Not in the proper mind at all. But they're not bad points you raise, Marvel Girl.”

“Heh!” His relatively good mood boded well. “Glad that's all cleared up!”

“And about your earlier comment –“ Ah, yeah. It was hard to get anything past the man. Jean twirled her hair around her finger, watching the stray strands flare out. She'd always loved the vibrancy of the color; even Scott had complimented it once, and here she'd been, thinking his powers altered his eyesight in more than one way.

“I like Wanda.” She made sure to meet Pietro's eyes for this part; Wanda valued honesty more than anything, and her brother couldn't be much different. “More than just a friend. And I'm not telling you this to 'ask your permission' – because the feelings that matter in this are mine and Wanda's.” She shrugged a little. “But, I thought you should know.”

It was the first time she'd seen Pietro struck speechless by something other than his sister's scolding.

“It'd be nice if you approved anyway?” Jean tried her most winning smile along with a head tilt, making sure her hair fell over her shoulder just so.

Pietro worked his jaw, opening and closing his mouth, and now would be a really, very, awfully bad time to laugh, especially after pulling out all of the stops. “You're telling me these nights outs aren't girl's nights outs?”

“Well, they _were_!” Jean huffed. Pietro didn't need to know they were also fighting crime. It would give him a valid excuse to tag along. “Then Wanda started asking if we could just go out without our superhero costumes, and we'd go out to dinner or a movie or ice-skating or something.” She nodded decisively. “So, if anything, she was the one who started asking me out on dates!” It was an efficient code; the Professor would be pleased. Costumes equaled the Marvel Witch duo crushing evil-doers beneath the (high) heels of their boots, while civilian clothes meant date night.

Pietro had retreated back into stunned silence. “But, that's, my sister?” he stammered uselessly.

“Uh, if you need a minute – ” That earned Jean a glare (implicatingPietro with a lack of speed was a sore spot, she got it).

“Better you than the overgrown chicken,” he conceded with a mutter.

“Really?” That was...easier than expected. She had wanted to come to her own understanding with Wanda's twin, and then when it was actually happening she had been starting to believe this talk should have been held with Wanda present. Even if it would have been guaranteed to devolve into the Scarlet Witch-and-Quicksilver debate show with Marvel Girl sidelined as the awkward third wheeler.

Pietro shrugged brusquely. “You're the most tolerable of the bunch.” He looked away. “And Wanda is happy when she's with you.” _I couldn't ask for more,_ he left unsaid. Jean's power was telekinesis, not telepathy, but she got that part.

With those words, he was gone; the only sign of his exit was the slam of the car door behind him. Jean had jumped a fraction at the sound, but now she just ran a palm down her face. Social niceties weren't Pietro's thing. She'd have to get used to it, she thought with a smile as she turned the key in the ignition. She had a date to get to.

* * *

“Whoa! Wanda, you look great!”

Wanda's face brightened. “Really? You're certain?” She lifted her skirt and twirled around. The dress followed through, the pleats curving with the hem of the fabric. Wanda stopped with a flourish, arms spread out and one foot in front of the other, grinning; Jean couldn't resist returning the gesture; she loved when other parts of Wanda peeked out past her shy exterior. Many of those things were just like Jean herself: Wanda wanted to have fun, had a good eye for fashion, liked the rush of combat (but not quite as much as saving people), valued honesty, and tried to be a good person. Their similarities made for a really great friendship, and Jean tilted her head as she wondered when that friendship had tipped over into, well, what they were now.

Probably the first time she had taken the other girl dancing. Not to a nightclub or anything; that would be the culture shock equivalent of tipping a hydrophobic headfirst into piranha-infested waters. No, it had been an event held by a club at the nearby college, and one of their more enthusiastic members had pushed a flyer at her at Coffee-A-Go-Go. The dance was even held at a community center – couldn't get much bigger of a Parent-Approved Sticker than that.

Nevertheless, it had taken a little (a lot) of encouragement and some prodding before she convinced Wanda to join her on the floor, but the other girl took to it like the boys to pizza. Right, that was when Jean had noticed for the first time that her friend's movements were very...graceful? No, sinuous was the better word for it. Sinous, and Wanda had looked like she had been having such fun. She'd grabbed both of Jean's hands, and her eyes had been sparkling – scratch that, her entire _face_ had glowed. Jean had been so proud of finding something that Wanda enjoyed so much, so much so that she had even cheated a bit with her powers to make their shoes float – enough so it felt like they glided across the floor.

What she definitely hadn't registered at that point was just how hot her face had burned.

“Jean?”

“Yes!” Jean snapped back to the present. “Right, I'm certain! I should be honored to go out next to someone so pretty.” Before Wanda could protest the compliment, Jean pressed on. “So, I'm guessing from your dress, you want to hang out tonight?”

“Do you want to?” Wanda asked hastily. For some reason, she looked distressed, and Jean backtracked through her words in a rush, trying to think of whatever she could have said to evoke that expression. Or what she didn't say – had she taken too long to reply to her? “We can crime fight, too,” Wanda added, “anything you like – I have my costume, I could –“

“Hey.” Jean stopped her rush of words by grabbing her shoulder. “This is fine. I like spending time with you, no matter what we're doing.”

“Oh.” Wanda smiled, dimmer than usual. “Me too.”

Jean smiled back, while wondering if she should ask if anything was the matter. Pietro being less than good-natured was par the course, but Wanda was the type to hide whatever was bothering her.

“There's this new movie out! It's a chick flick,” – Wanda tilted her head – “uh, a romantic comedy. Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, hijinks ensue? You can switch the order of the last two.”

“Oh,” Wanda nodded thoughtfully, “I love romance.”

“And everyone likes comedy! So together they're even better!” Not that anyone else at the Xavier School agreed; that was just one of the downsides of being the only girl in a boys club.

Well, she could live with it if it meant she could save those times to share with Wanda. Jean reached for the other girl's hand. “And we can grab shakes afterward.”

“I cannot decide which one I love more,” Wanda remarked as she was tugged along.

* * *

They probably weren't getting their shakes.

“Jean! Behind you!”

Jean herded the last of the bystanders into the cafe with a shove (“Don't come out until the police come!”) before spinning around and hurling the flying car door elsewhere. Of course, her mind decided the best direction for it to go was crashing through the door of the diner next to the movie theater.

They should have worn their costumes, and they definitely weren't getting their shakes.

She blew the lid off a nearby fire hydrant, purely so Wanda could direct the torrent toward the giant alien lizard _thing_ rampaging down the street, of course. The lizard shook its head, spraying water across the street, and stomped its feet.

There was a high-pitched scream. Jean whirled around but Wanda had already started running. A little girl – she couldn't be more than seven or eight – cowered behind a car, hands above her head, not even ten feet away from the giant monster.

The lizard threw its head back and forth and its tail lashed out. Wanda, too focused on reaching the girl, was right in its path.

“No!” Jean screamed. She lifted a trash can; if she tossed it fast enough, maybe it could interrupt the momentum –

A flurry of water sprayed in the air. Wanda and the little girl disappeared from her sight.

“Wanda!” Jean nearly upended a nearby light pole in her panic.

Then Wanda, holding the girl in her arms, was set down next to her, and Pietro sped back off.

“Lead it to the park! I know how to deal with these things!” Bobby called as he and Warren flew past them. Bobby was cradled in Warren's arms, pointing and kicking his feet with one of his sneakers missing.

“Wha –? Angel? Iceman?” Jean looked behind her, expecting to find Cyclops and Beast chasing after them. All she saw was Wanda kneeling next to the door of the cafe.

“Stay in here. They will find your mother after it is safe,” Wanda said to the little girl, before patting her head and closing the door. When she stood, she and Jean exchanged a terse nod, and they took off in a run after their teammates.

By the time they caught up, by the park fountain, the lizard had three of its feet trapped in ice. It was still putting up a valiant fight, though, head and tail thrashing dangerously.

“Y'don't reckon you could blow up another fire hydrant, MG?” Bobby jumped over the lizard's tail as it swept beneath him and shot a blast out to trap the appendage in ice. The tail didn't hold for long, shattering free of the restraints, and he dove to the ground to duck another blow. “Not enough water in this fountain to do anything but hold dimes; who knew?”

“Give me a sec.” Jean chewed on her lip, scanning their surroundings, before her gaze landed on a nearby patch of grass, and a light bulb flashed in her head. “The sprinkler system!” She turned to Wanda. “Can you help me out?”

“If you dislodge it enough, I can try,” Wanda said, her hair already blowing around her as she gathered up chaos energy.

Jean knelt and spread her hands out over the dirt, trying to sense the water line underneath them. She dug her fingers into the ground; pinpointing the precise location with her powers alone sapped her strength more quickly than she was used to. She needed to learn not to rely on her senses too much.

A click ran through her when her mind finally honed in on the running water. She grinned, and with a triumphant tug, squeezed the channel. She felt the water pressure spike, and the tops of the sprinklers around them snapped, water spraying out of them.

“Now, Wanda!”

Wanda's hands glowed, and Jean could see how she pulled the water up, amplifying the sprinkler currents until they gushed out of the ground.

“Awesome! Thanks, Witchie!” Wanda mouthed 'Witchie' with a puzzled look as Bobby directed the water toward the lizard, and had no trouble now encasing the monster completely in ice.

Warren swooped down to pat the top of the ice sculpture, before flying and landing next to her and Wanda. “Don't tell anyone I didn't do anything besides chauffeur Iceman around,” he whispered conspiratorially with a wink.

Jean put a hand on her hip. “Where'd you two come from?” Jean asked as Wanda fixed the sprinklers, and Warren laughed, dusting his shoulder free of feathers.

“You three,” Wanda corrected, as Pietro appeared, clutching a syringe, and he grunted and disappeared with those words. Jean blinked and stared at the empty spot, while Wanda sighed and turned toward the creature.

It looked like a hole in the ice around the lizard was melting, before Pietro was visible again, chipping away the last of the ice and injecting the animal with the needle.

The monster shrank, and it would have been almost impossible to believe if the sight hadn't occurred in front of them. (Then again, supposedly impossible things were a near-daily occurrence in their lives.) Bobby finished the job with a snap of his fingers, cracking the rest of the ice. The lizard remained rock-still for an instant before it zigzagged around foggily, finally darting off into the trees.

“Cerebro told the Prof about a mutant” – okay, so not alien – “lizard in town, and sent us in,” Warren lied through his shiny white teeth.

“Don't know what to tell you about that guy, though.” Bobby helpfully pointed out Pietro with a thumb, who froze and stared off to the side. With a small huff, Wanda led him away from the group with a hand on his shoulder, leaving Jean to deal with the other two.

“Oh, really?” Jean said, honey-sweet, and Warren and Bobby exchanged an alarmed look. “Where's Cyclops and Beast? I didn't know the Professor was in the habit of sending half-teams without their leaders into the field.” She leaned her arm on Bobby's shoulder. “You're not in your uniforms, either,” she added, and Bobby laughed shakily, before ducking her and scurrying over next to Warren.

“Beast was trying to hack Cerebro; weird guy, huh? So, me and Angel were keeping watch!” he blurted. “And, for some reason, the frequency – thing – screwed up and we ended up overhearing you talking to Pietro in the car, but it was all Warren's idea to tail your date, I swear – ow!”

“Shut _up,_ Bobby!” Warren hissed.

Jean sighed and buried her face in her hand, forcing herself to take deep breaths. Inhale through the nose. Exhale through the mouth. Keep your mind clear at all times. She should not get annoyed at the Professor's voice she could hear in her head – imagination head, not her literal mind.

“I trust you when you say it was an accident.”

“Really?” Warren asked, disbelieving, and promptly shut his mouth at Jean's glare.

“Regardless, it was a massive invasion of privacy, and you two know better. The moment you realized what was happening you should have tuned out.” Jean scowled. “Same goes for Beast.”

“We're sorry,” Bobby said. “We honestly had no idea about you two, and we were curious about, well – how it would go.”

Boys. Typical. She hoped they had been bored out of their minds while she and Wanda had pleasantly conversed over tea.

“What Iceman's trying to say is that we really shouldn't have tried to follow you, especially without your knowledge,” Warren said very quietly, his wings drooping.

Jean sighed. “But you _did_ help us rassle up the giant reptile,” she conceded, “so I'll deal with you two for real later, all right?” By deal, there were going to be _so_ many extra compulsory lessons for the two on ethics. Team-building. Gender studies. The history of male castration.

Warren nodded, and Bobby looked intensely guilty.

“Go,” she waved them off. “Let me and Wanda finish our date.”

After Warren had flown off, Bobby in tow, Jean realized Pietro had left as well. Wanda's posture was closed off, and she avoided Jean's eyes.

“Well, that's over with!” Jean put a hand on Wanda's shoulder. Wanda flinched, and Jean jumped with her at the sudden movement. “What's the matter?”

“I talked with my brother,” Wanda said. “He informed me he had come to watch us because he wanted to make sure I was fine on our...date.”

“Oh.” Jean frowned. “Are...are you not fine?” What had she done? The mutant lizard was incredibly bad timing, but no one could be blamed for that.

“I am! It's the other part that –“

“The other –“ Jean's stomach dropped out of her body. “The date part?”

“I didn't realize,” Wanda looked up, her face stricken, “that is what our nights were to you, but I thought it was just. As friends. I must have been a terrible partner –“

“Hey, hey!” Jean stopped with a finger on her lips. “You're not terrible. You've been perfect.” The real issue here was herself. She had just assumed Wanda was the type to be coyer about this type of thing. Dumb, that was stupid, what was she even thinking? And now Wanda was awkward, and flinched when Jean touched her. “Especially as a friend.”

“That's not right,” Wanda looked down. “We have not approached this in the same direction. I apologize. I did not assume what we did fell within the proper dating standard, so I was unaware.”

“...Proper dating standard?” Jean asked blankly.

Wanda fidgeted. “Such as...the caretakers of the two must acknowledge their children are courting,” she said.

“Oh! Well...done, I guess?” Jean said with a finger on her chin.

“Done?” Wanda clasped her hand over her mouth. “Jean, you did not contact the Brotherhood!”

“What!? No, no, no!” Jean shook her head for emphasis. She didn't have a death wish. “You two don't acknowledge Magneto as your dad, neither do I! I told Pietro!”

Wanda let out an uncharacteristic yelp. “Oh, that is even worse!”

“No, that's,” okay, this Jean couldn't resist laughing at; so she wasn't the only one who would have been taken by surprise at his reaction, “he was fine with it.”

“For certain?” Wanda asked, her eyes as big as saucers.

“You talked to him. I guess you're not the only one who's learned a lot since arriving here,” Jean told her. She tried for a smile. “So? What else do Transians do on dates?”

“They,” Wanda's eyes darted about, “touch each other,” she whispered sharply. Jean's eyes slid to her hand, still on Wanda's shoulder and raised an eyebrow. She could see the red creeping up her friend's face, and Wanda waved a hand in protest.

“But that's –“

“It's okay,” Jean said gently. “You don't have to see me in that way, honestly.”

“But I would like to,” Wanda said with a pout, and Jean froze. She opened her mouth and closed it again, and Wanda tilted her head. Her smile shone at Jean, and slowly, a giddy smile slid over her own face.

“It took me some time to get used to seeing you in a different light,” Jean noted.

“Time,” Wanda said with a small nod. “If we do this for longer, then...it makes sense. I think it would work out for myself as well.” She quirked her lips for an instant, before her face fell. She sighed. “But I fear it may be something we might not have enough of,” she confessed. “Truth be told, I have something I must tell you.”

“Oh?”

“This may be the last time we can do this for a while. We sent a letter to the Avengers,” Wanda said, and she looked up to meet Jean's eyes. “Captain America invited us to the mansion to...join.”

“Captain America? W-wait, to join the _Avengers_?” Jean squealed and hugged Wanda, who let out a small gasp. “That's amazing! I'm so happy for you!”

Wanda pushed her back, her hands on Jean's shoulders. “The mansion in the city,” she said, searching Jean's face.

“So? That's –“ Oh. Jean shook her head and waved a hand in dismissal. “Don't worry about it. We'll still talk on the phone, and I'm sure there will be plenty of missions to bring us to the city. We could go to Broadway – have you ever seen a musical? And Coney Island and the Met, wait, you've never been to a museum, have you?”

Wanda blinked at her.

“Or not!” Jean exclaimed. “You just told me you needed time, and now I'm talking about dragging you all over New York.” She stepped back and stood up straight. “If you want to do this slowly and think about it on your own schedule, take whatever time you need.”

Wanda grabbed Jean's hands in her own, a smile starting to spread across her face, and shook her head. “It is fine. Everything moves so quickly. I thought I would have become accustomed to it, with my brother,” she laughed, “but it is a constant adventure.”

Jean felt like the breath had been knocked out of her. She glanced between Wanda's face and their hands held tightly between them and took a moment before squeezing Wanda's hands back.

“Then, we'll have the ride of our lives.”


End file.
